Curriculum

Patient Care Responsibilities:We admit children and adults from our practice to the Medical Center at MUSC or Trident Medical Center.

Inpatients are cared for by the family medicine services (an attending, clinical pharmacist, resident, interns and students).

Recognizing the value of this ambulatory care exposure, residents have an increasing responsibility for patient care. They are scheduled for one, four and five half days in the outpatient Family Medicine Center as first, second and third year residents, respectively.

Supervision is always available from our family medicine faculty. Each faculty clinician maintains an active medical practice within the Family Medicine Center to promote continued growth as a physician and to serve as a role model.

Noon Conference:Educational noon conferences take place on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, which include presentations by physicians, family medicine residents, pharmacists, nurses and other health care professionals from within MUSC and Trident Health System as well as guest faculty from other institutions. Topics presented are based on a longitudinal conference curriculum of the most common illnesses managed in the family medicine setting.

Skills Seminar:Family Medicine Skills Seminars occur every Thursday from 3:00-5:00 p.m. During this time, topics and issues related to the practice of Family Medicine are reviewed and discussed. Regularly, behavioral science, procedural skills, pharmacotherapeutic and practice management issues are presented.

Balint Group:Balint groups meet every Thursday at noon for a one-hour session. Separate groups have been established for second and third year residents. Balint groups study the doctor-patient relationship in order to learn how to recognize and interpret the clinical manifestations of the patient's emotional state. These clinical manifestations are expressed verbally and non-verbally and must be identified and transformed to their psychological determinants in order to enhance clinical reasoning, develop plausible hypotheses and initiate sensible management plans.

Clinical Scholars:Second and third year residents must participate in scholarly activities. Scholarly activities are provided through the Clinical Scholars Program. Each resident completes two scholars projects during their residency. This program is designed to allow residents protected time during their training to participate in quality improvement and research projects. This program has produced numerous successful quality improvement projects, which have been presented at national meetings. All residents present their scholarly activity during Resident Research Day each June.

Family Medicine Orientation:The 2 week orientation block provides an introduction to Family Medicine as well as establishes basic skills necessary for residency training. The following activities are some of the topics presented during this block: BLS/ACLS/PALS ALSO Common problems in Family Medicine OB skills Computerized patient records Inpatient/Outpatient call orientation Team building

Emergency Medicine:This rotation is completed at the Emergency Department at Trident Medical Center, one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the state. Full-time emergency medicine physicians are present in the Emergency Department at all times. Faculty consultation on each patient evaluated is required. Residents work shifts will rotate depending upon service needs.

Family Medicine Inpatient:Four blocks of first year training in adult patient care is provided on our family medicine inpatient team attended by our faculty, a clinical pharmacist and supervised by an upper level family medicine resident at both the Medical Center at MUSC (1 block) and Trident Medical Center (3 blocks).

Obstetrics/Gynecology:During the first year, the experience in OB/GYN is divided between Trident Medical Center and the Medical Center at MUSC. The resident rotates with a private OB/GYN group at Trident Medical Center. In addition to ambulatory prenatal care, the resident is actively involved in the patient's active labor. Additional time is spent working with family medicine faculty as they care for patients at our practice.

Pediatric Inpatient:Family medicine residents work as part of the pediatric hospitalist team at MUSC Children's Hospital, a nationally recognized pediatric hospital. This rotation consists of medical students, an upper level pediatric resident, a clinical pharmacist and a pediatric faculty attending. Two blocks are spent on the inpatient service working with children admitted directly from the ambulatory clinic or the pediatric emergency department.

Pediatric ER:During this one block rotation, the first year resident works in the Pediatric Emergency Department at MUSC Children's Hospital. Full-time pediatric emergency medicine physicians are present in the Peds Emergency Department at all times. Faculty consultation on each patient evaluated is required. Residents work shifts will rotate depending upon service needs.

During the second and third years of the program, the focus of resident education is centered on the Family Medicine Center. Subspecialty rotations and educational activities are intended to augment the patient care activities and educational experiences in the Family Medicine Center. In the second year, residents spend 4 half-days per week in the Family Medicine Center participating in outpatient care.

Family Medicine Inpatient: Two blocks (10 weeks) is spent on the family medicine inpatient service at the Medical Center at MUSC, and one block on the inpatient service at Trident Medical Center. During these rotations, the resident supervises the interns and coordinates the patient care and educational activities for the family medicine inpatient team.

General Surgery:One block is spent rotating with a group of general surgeons at Trident Medical Center. The resident examines patients in the emergency room, acts as first assistant in the operating room and assists in the care of surgical inpatients. In addition, care of surgical patients in the office setting is demonstrated.

Neonatology/Outpatient Pediatrics:Neonatology is completed in the Level 2 newborn nursery at Trident Medical Center under the supervision of a faculty neonatologist. Skills in the examination of the neonates, diagnosis and management of common problems, such as jaundice, hypoglycemia and growth retardation are developed. Outpatient pediatrics is completed with a local private practice, with a focus on well-child exams, common outpatient pediatric problems, and newborn exams. During the block, residents spend two-half days per week in the newborn nursery and three half-days per week in the outpatient pediatrics practice.

Obstetrics/Gynecology:One block is spent with a private group of OB/GYN's at Trident Medical Center. The second year resident is involved in both maternity care as well as assisting with the care of women with gynecologic problems.

Orthopedics/Geriatrics:The resident works with a local group of orthopedic surgeons 3 half days per week. The remaining 2 half days per week are spent gaining experience working in an assisted living facility with a family doctor who specializes in geriatric medicine.

Orthopedics/Sports Medicine:The resident is given the opportunity to work with a group of local orthopedic surgeons in their office for 5 weeks. Residents also spend one half day per week working with one of our family medicine faculty members who is fellowship-trained in sports medicine.

Practice Management:The 2.5 week practice management rotation provides the resident the opportunity to review areas pertaining to the success of the practice as well as understanding the many financial issues associated with family medicine.

Cardiology:The 2.5 week rotation in cardiology involves working with a group of private cardiologists on the campus of Trident Medical Center. The resident learns the outpatient practice cardiologists on the campus of Trident Medical Center. The resident learns the outpatient evaluation and management of patients with cardiovascular disease as well performing numerous procedures and assisting with inpatient consults completed by these cardiologists. Didactic activities during this rotation are delivered by a faculty family medicine physician who specializes in cardiology.

Longitudinal Institutional/Geriatrics Rotation:Second and third year residents have a longitudinal experience in the care of institutionalized and geriatrics patients. Once per quarter, residents participate in the care of nursing home patients. This experience is in conjunction with family medicine physicians who specialize in institutional and nursing home care.

During the second and third years of the program, the focus of resident education is centered on the Family Medicine Center. Subspecialty rotations and educational activities are intended to augment the patient care activities and educational experiences in the Family Medicine Center. In the third year, residents spend 5 half-days per week in the Family Medicine Center participating in outpatient care.

Cardiology:The 5 week rotation in cardiology involves working with a group of private practice cardiologists on the campus of Trident Medical Center. The resident learns the outpatient evaluation and management of patients with cardiovascular disease as well as performing numerous procedures and assisting with inpatient consults completed by these cardiologists. Didactic activities during this rotation are delivered by a faculty family medicine physician who specializes in cardiology.

Community Medicine:During this rotation, the third year resident works with a private Family Medicine physician in a large community practice. In addition, one afternoon per week is spent seeing patients at a local homeless shelter under the direction of a family medicine faculty member.

Environmental & Occupational Medicine:This rotation in environmental and occupational medicine provides a balance of scholarly review of available literature and direct patient care. This experience is a pioneer effort to improve our residents EOM skills before they encounter patients with these problems in the workplace, as well as providing opportunities in environmental medicine.

Family Medicine Inpatient: Two blocks (10 weeks) is spent on the family medicine inpatient service at Trident Medical Center. During this rotation, the resident supervises interns, coordinates patient care and organizes educational activities for the family medicine inpatient team.

General Surgery:One block is spent rotating with a group of general surgeons at Trident Medical Center. The resident examines patients in the emergency room, acts as first assistant in the operating room and assists in the care of surgical inpatients. In addition, care of surgical patients in the office setting is demonstrated. Residents also use this time to work with our family medicine faculty in our own procedure clinic, developing their skills at basic in-office procedures.

Longitudinal Institutional/Geriatrics Rotation:Second and third year residents have a longitudinal experience in the care of institutionalized and geriatrics patients. Once per quarter, residents participate in the care of nursing home patients. This experience is in conjunction with family medicine physicians who specialize in institutional and nursing home care.

Practice Management:The 2.5 week practice management rotation provides the resident the opportunity to review areas pertaining to the success of the practice as well as understanding the many financial issues associated with family medicine.